What does America stand for? Opportunity and equality? Or imperialism and greed?

The fact is that every year, without fail, our elected representatives hand the Pentagon more than half of the entire discretionary budget, or more than half a trillion dollars each year – leaving less than half for education, health care, the environment – and everything else we care about.

The presidential primaries have revealed the public thirst for big, bold ideas to address stagnant wages and hopes, whether it’s Bernie Sanders’ audacious policy agenda or Trump’s huge promises. For a detailed vision of what the federal government could do to actually address the big challenges we face, one need look no further than the People’s Budget, released last week by the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

The decision by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday to not increase interest rates right now beyond their current 0.25 to 0.5 percent range is a testament to the fragility of the slow economic recovery the United States is now experiencing.

After 20 nationally televised, occasionally entertaining, sometimes appalling debates, our presidential candidates this cycle have discussed a number of important issues: immigration policy, gun safety, health care, taxes, U.S. involvement in the Middle East, and the mounting crisis of student debt, just to name a few.

The Obama administration’s budget proposal for 2017 would jack up military spending higher than it’s been since World War II. The Republican leadership in Congress wants to jack it up higher than that. Fortunately these aren’t our only choices. The Congressional Progressive Caucus has mapped out a saner alternative in what it is calling the People’s Budget.

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The Peoples’ Budget of the Congressional Progressive Congress (CPC) does not make the deeper cuts in the Pentagon budget advocated by those who work against a way of life characterized by never-ending war.

The fiscal 2017 People’s Budget was formally unveiled Tuesday by leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus on the same day that House Republicans released their own dystopian spending plan – and found that conservatives were criticizing it for not being austere enough.

Set aside for a moment concerns about political gridlock on Capitol Hill. Think about the actual gridlock that could await lawmakers and citizens on their way to Capitol Hill.

Earlier in March, Washington area residents learned that one of the major bridges in the city – one that carries about 70,000 vehicles a day past the iconic Lincoln Memorial to either downtown Washington or the Virginia suburbs – will have to be shut down in five years without a $250 million reconstruction. It’s a federal bridge, but Republicans who control Congress so far aren’t appropriating the money for the needed reconstruction.